


Behind Locked Doors

by Purplehuntress3



Series: Keeping Up With The De Rolos [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Multi, Percy is married to both vex and tary but they aren't married to each other, Polyamory, V Relationship, instead they are "spouse in law", mentions of how much of a dick Tary's dad is, talking out your issues because thats what your supposed to do in marriage, tary has a panic attack in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 21:37:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16818931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purplehuntress3/pseuds/Purplehuntress3
Summary: In Percival’s experience, he had found that there were two types of habit: one was something you’ve had for years, that had no rhyme or reason. Vex would often chew on the end of her braid when she was focused on a task. Keyleth bit her nails when she was stressed- something that had luckily been reduced over the last few years. The second type was something you developed, something that happens as a reaction to an event.. How he reached for weapons that weren’t there when a loud bang surprised him. How Cass would often stutter when introducing herself- almost saying a name that she’d rather forget.Percy doesn’t know which kind of habit this one was; he can, unfortunately, make a very good educated guess.





	Behind Locked Doors

**Author's Note:**

> quick note: as the notes say Tary has a panic attack in this, its quickly helped out and they have a talk about it.  
> Thanks to Jas (byzantiine here on ao3) for betaing this!

Tary was a man you could see coming a mile away. The way his armour glistened in the sunlight was the first thing people tended to notice, and if that wasn’t what caught you on to his arrival, his speaking to nobody in particular about his adventures was what clued you in. It always amused Percy that a man so in love with attention struggled to accept it as affection. Especially since they’ve been married 4 years.

Oh, Tary loved to show affection to  _ others.  _ He would write sonnets about Percy (and occasionally Vex). He spent hours on presents, or in the bakery. He devoted his time and love to others, but when it was turned on himself? He stuttered about, suddenly unsure about what to do with it. 

They talked about it one night, Tary curled up on one side of Percy while Vex curled up on the other.

_ “We’re just concerned, darling.” She said. “We can still keep it secret, if you wish it to be.” _

_ “It just- it feels strange.” Tary replied, like being unsure what to do with love was completely normal.  _

Percy had a theory that it had to do with Tary’s habit of keeping the door locked when they were alone together. 

In Percival’s experience, he had found that there were two types of habit: one was something you’ve had for years, that had no rhyme or reason. Vex would often chew on the end of her braid when she was focused on a task. Keyleth bit her nails when she was stressed- something that had luckily been reduced over the last few years. The second type was something you developed, something that happens as a reaction to an event.. How he reached for weapons that weren’t there when a loud bang surprised him. How Cass would often stutter when introducing herself- almost saying a name that she’d rather forget. 

Percy doesn’t know which kind of habit this one was; he can, unfortunately, make a very good educated guess.

It’s not like it was a bad habit, in fact it was quite good at stopping three year old Vesper and one year old Mariya from walking in when their dads were doing something they definitely shouldn’t see. But it wasn’t just for keeping the kids out; Percy and Taryon could be having the afternoon to themselves, maybe Vex would be with them, but the moment Tary realised that he hadn’t locked the door meant he had to drag himself out of their pile on the bed to check. Even if someone else had locked the door, even if Tary had watched them do it, he would  _ still _ have to check before crawling back in. Neither Percy nor Vex ever mentioned anything, never asked  _ why,  _ just like Tary wouldn’t ask why Percy would spend hours looking over his weapons for magical sigils even though he checked last week, just like neither of them mentioned anything when Vex went for long walks alone, looking over her shoulder for someone who was no longer there. 

Percy wished he had asked.

~~~~

“You-”  _ kiss  _ “-are-”  _ kiss  _ “-beautiful.”  _ kiss.  _ Even as Tary tried to cover his face, Percy could see his shy smile. 

A rare afternoon off found the two of them tucked away in the master bedroom, Tary topless and laid out beneath Percy as he pressed kiss after kiss into his skin. He  _ adored  _ moments like this; quiet ones with one or both of his spouses (it still struck him sometimes that after all that he’d done, he had found not one, but  _ two  _ people to love him). Vex was currently patrolling the city with Jarett, something she had taken up in more recent years to help cure her boredom. It was a difficult transition, going from fighting gods to moving into the tiring and difficult world of politics, but they each had their own way of dealing with that move and this was Vex’s. 

“Percy, shush.” Tary said as he peeked out behind his hand, quickly hiding again when he noticed Percy’s smug face. A blush spread down Tary’s neck to his chest, and Percy followed it with his kisses. 

“You want me to lie?” He asked, affronted. “How dare you, Taryon. I am Lord of Whitestone- I haven’t told a lie in my life.”  _ That _ got Tary to laugh, an unsightly snort that caused the both of them to dissolve into giggles. He kissed up the man’s chest before leaning of his elbows above him, his body completely covering Tary’s. He pried Tary’s hands away and held them tightly in his own. With his face finally revealed to him, Percy leant down and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. Then another, longer, but just as soft. During the third kiss Tary tried to move his hands, so Percy freed him and sighed as Tary shifted them into his hair, pulling him further down. 

Percy heard a key twist in the lock, and without warning, there in the doorway stood Vex, looking sweaty and exhausted. 

“I’m sorry to interrupt, darlings, I just needed to get out of this fucking armour.” She shut and locked the door behind her, leaving her key on the side table. She strolled across the room, unclasping parts of the dragon armour as she made her way to the wardrobe. 

“You aren’t interrupting much.” Percy said, as he watched her strip. She shot him a wink before turning around, and so he turned his attention back to Tary. Which was when he realised Taryon was shaking, his eyes wide and focused a thousand miles away 

“Tary?” Percy took his husband’s face into his hands, stroking over his cheekbones. Tary breathed in but it sounded more like a gasp, a struggle for air.

“I’m- I’m fine.” Tary stuttered, and combined with his struggled breathing, it clicked. Percy realised that Tary was having a panic attack. 

He shifted to Tary’s side, no longer confining him, receiving a look both relieved and hurt. He held onto Tary’s hand and placed his other hand to his chest. “In for 6, hold for 4, out for 8, okay dearest?” Tary nodded slightly and took in a wet breath, that into a sob, tears starting the flow down his cheeks. Vex appeared on the other side of the bed, in the basic clothes she wears under her armour. She had a shirt in her hands- one of Percy’s, by the looks of it. 

“Do you want to put a shirt on, darling? It might help a bit.” Tary nodded, reaching his other hand out towards her. As Percy counted and helped get Tary’s breath back to normal, Vex helped him into the shirt which hung slightly too big on him. 

It took a few minutes, but eventually Tary began to calm down. He had his back to Percy’s chest, the man’s arms wrapped around him, and his head was tucked up under Vex’s chin as she slowly stroked the side of his face. Once calm, Tary pulled himself from their hold, and though Vex tried to stop him, Percy put his hand out. Tary walked to the door, grabbing the keys Vex had left on the side table. He unlocked the door, and then locked it again, trying it once before placing the keys back down and then crawling back into bed. 

“Tary.” Vex’s voice was soft as she spoke; it was the voice she used for the children when they were upset. “You don’t need to tell us anything you don’t want to, darling, but-”

“You had a panic attack.” Percy said. “And that’s something we don’t want to happen again, so we need to know what we did wrong so we don’t do it again.”Seeing Tary like that felt wrong on a fundamental level. He had seen the man afraid before, had seen him been so terrified he was sick- but he’d never had a  _ panic attack _ . 

“Vex-you-” he stuttered, and Percy watched as her face fell, as she realised that what had happened was her fault. “-you- you walked in.” 

“Oh darling,I’m so sorry.” She held his head closer, pressing a kiss to his hair. “I didn’t know. You’ve never had a problem with me being in the room with the two of you before? Is this a new thing? Has someone said something?” 

Tary shook his head. “No-no, you  _ walked in.  _ You unlocked the door, but I didn’t know it was you-” 

“I’m still struggling to see the problem here-”

“My father found out about me and Lawrence when he walked in on us in bed together.” 

Oh.  _ Oh. _

Percy had never liked Tary’s father- in fact he probably despised him more than he despised Vex’s father. In fact it had been his idea to give Tary the De Rolo last name in the first place.  _ “You legacy was in your books and your brigade.”  _ He had said.  _ “Your father’s name does not deserve to be remembered in any other way.”  _ But in that moment, he remembered every time Tary had locked the door, hidden from affection, and he was reminded that for most of his life, that was how Tary had to love; behind a locked door. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Vex; a rage behind her eyes but a clear message:  _ not now.  _ Tary did not need anger right now, he needed them. 

Vex grasped Tary’s cheeks and pulled him up to look him in the eye. “Darling- I know that these words will not help your fear, but know this- no one is going to drag us away from you, or you away from us. Do you think they could? We killed a  _ god.  _ And if they think they can then I’ll put an arrow through their throat before they can cry “mercy.” But to help, we’ll establish some rules from now on- maybe if the door’s locked I won’t come in, unless it’s important. And if it is important I’ll knock and tell you it’s me?” Tary nodded and smiled weakly at her. 

“And I help by murdering your father.” Percy said.

“Percy!” Vex cried, but Tary was laughing- it was the desperate kind of laugh, one that spoke that if he wasn’t laughing he’d be crying again, but it was a laugh none the least.   
  
Percy knew they’d be alright. 

~~~~

(Years down the line, when Vesper grew up and left to complete her own adventures, she met her grandfather in Deastock. She promptly became banned from Deastock after she jumped a table and clocked in round the jaw. When word reached Whitestone, her parents had never been more proud.) 

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments are appreciated  
> come shout at me on tumblr at huntress-of-the-forest, i have too many ideas for this polyam fam that i need to say to the world.


End file.
